For Ada resident and inventor Jeff Baird, necessity gave birth to an electromagnetic generator that he says uses magnetic energy to create electricity without fossil fuels, wind or solar power.

 Years ago, a self-induced financial hardship and an angry wife motivated him to find a solution to their power problems.

 “When I started this project, I didn’t know much about electricity,” explains Baird. “My first few machines looked like Frankenstein. I have been electrocuted a few times and burned a lot of stuff up working on this.”

Baird’s machine has come a long way from the first model.

“The first generator would burn four 100-watt light bulbs, then recharge itself after 10 hours,” says Baird. “The next (version) would run for a few days. The current model will run continuously and support a steady 3,000 watts.”

The simplicity of the generator surprised Baird.

 “We are using electromagnets to pull a piston plate moving a generator that stores the electricity,” explains Baird.

Because patents are still pending, Baird would not provide the specific details of the electrical workings of his machine.

However, Jason Brezinski, an electrical engineer with the Federal Aviation Administration, who has spent the past eight years working on and designing low voltage systems for the FAA’s mission critical facilities, explains how such a device could conceptually work. He likened the process to a rotary engine, except the generator uses magnets to produce force rather than internal combustion.

Baird does volunteer that he uses batteries to get the whole process started.

“The generator is only as good as your worst battery,” Baird says.

For Brezinski, this poses a problem.

“Batteries are the only cost-effective means of storing electricity we have, but they’re plagued by their own problems,” cautions Brezinski. “And they’re not particularly environmentally friendly.”

Upfront cost, size, weight, reliability and maintenance are all factors that might work against the prognosis for a device like Baird’s, Brezinski speculates. 

 “It probably would not be cost effective in the city except when the power goes out,” says Baird. “But in the country or rural worksites, it would offer a lot.”

Baird sees many uses for the electromagnetic generator.

“I am thinking large and small. I see people using it to run small appliances or as a portable electricity source,” he says.

The Chickasaw Tribal Utility Authority apparently recognizes the generator’s potential. CTUA and Baird entered into a business relationship in 2010 that gave CTUA first right of refusal for exclusive licensing.

“I am looking for the right people to take this further than I can,” explains Baird.

Baird has been inventing for more than 20 years, but he says many people thought him crazy for quitting a lucrative business to focus on his electromagnetic generator.
“I have always found a way to get my stuff done,” offers Baird. “But, I have a room reserved in the nut house, just in case.”

Tony Henry knows a few things about operating businesses in Oklahoma. After all, the managing partner of Tulsa’s Full Moon Café and Wolfgang Puck Bistro has owned numerous restaurants in the state and has dealt with myriad challenges.

Henry, like many other business owners, believes that for all the accolades Oklahoma has received, there remain many potholes in the road to a good statewide business environment.

In the past few years, that environment has been lauded in magazines and in the reporting on national and regional surveys. However, small and mid-size business owners in Oklahoma find that there remain distinctive barriers to the success and expansion of homegrown businesses, and feel that the state could do more to foster a healthy private sector.

“One of the biggest issues for us is workers’ compensation – it is so expensive,” says Christine Booth, co-owner of Hawley Design Furnishings.

“We had a woodworker with an injury who went to a local emergency center. It cost $1,700 and the company paid only $300. And we have a good (provider). The bill every month is so high and the return is so little. It’s almost worthless.”

Tony Jordan, manager of Jordan and Sons homebuilders says that he hasn’t yet had to deal with a Workers’ Compensation claim.

“Thank God, I haven’t had to,” Jordan says. “I’ve got seven employees and workers’ comp is expensive in Oklahoma.”

In fact, workers’ comp rates in Oklahoma are higher than any other state in the region and have been escalating dramatically. According to a comparative study conducted by the State of Oregon, Oklahoma had the fourth highest rates in the country as of 2010, having risen from ninth nationally in just 2008, and from 15th in 2004. By comparison, Texas has seen its (already moderate) rates decline, and Arkansas and Colorado have some of the lowest rates in the nation.

“That’s wrong,” Jordan says. “We don’t like insurances as is – there is no benefit. There should be benefits for those of us who don’t have claims.”

Henry says that one likely cause of the state’s high rates is fraud.

“It’s the system that needs modification,” Henry says. “We need something that gets workers back to work quicker and which reduces fraud. Workers’ comp systems have a lot of fraud. Sometimes in Oklahoma, people sit at home and are happy to get paid for it.”

Henry says the state could address this business barrier.

“A lot of business owners would like to see more enforcement and penalties related to workers’ comp fraud,” he says.

Many feel that healthcare is another obstacle.

“There are things out there like Insure Oklahoma to supposedly help with health insurance rates, but you have to go through hoops for it and if you are even slightly successful in your business, it’s no help at all,” says web designer John Coffey of Bixby’s Hot Coffey Design. He adds that a group plan offered through his local chamber of commerce is also of no help – with the premiums being almost three times as high as a private policy.

Although Henry says he feels that Insure Oklahoma – a state program helping low-income workers acquire health insurance – is a good start, more needs to be done in the healthcare area.

“I’d like to see more programs like that,” Henry says. “I think a very high percentage of our employees are most likely uninsured. We’re very nervous about what’s proposed at the federal level because it won’t be affordable. It will drive some small businesses under.”

Booth says that Insure Oklahoma is still out of reach for her employees and that with the limited bargaining power of a small business, a company insurance plan is even further from reach.

Muskogee’s Alan Landry retired several years ago after operating numerous businesses around the state. He says he’s glad his days in business are over.

“It’s too expensive and too dangerous to be in business in Oklahoma today,” Landry says. “You never know when more regulations and fees are coming and it is outrageously expensive to even hire people. With payroll taxes, fees and whatever new mandates they cook up all the time, it’s impossible to plan long term and long-term planning is a key to success.”

Others certainly agree about the “cost” of hiring.

“Because of things like the worker’s comp rates, we’re looking at hiring more contractors than we are full-time employees,” Booth says.

Coffey says it is more cost-efficient to hire people overseas on a per-project basis even at up to $50 an hour than it is for him to hire employees.

“It works out better for me that way because there is no incentive for me to hire someone,” Coffey says. “I have never seen it worse for small businesses than it is today.”

Amanda Duenner, president of Daniels Greer Properties, says that even Oklahoma’s much-praised quality of life advantages are matched by similarly themed shortcomings.

“When companies are considering relocating here, they look at things like that our school system is struggling, crime seems to be increasing and even that Oklahoma is one of the fattest states,” Duenner says. “All of these things relate to quality of life.”

Despite keen awareness of Oklahoma’s business pitfalls, small and mid-size business owners still believe there are things communities and government can do to improve the situation. Besides action in terms of Worker’s Compensation rates and health care, other suggestions abound.

Duenner, for example, believes the state would be better served by more direct flights from the international airports.

“I’ve heard a lot that Tulsa is very hard to get to,” she says.

Duenner says that additional incentives to attract and retain businesses could also be helpful.

Booth agrees.

“There are things the state could do to promote Oklahoma businesses,” she says. “For example, there are a lot of trade shows that are very expensive to attend. It would be helpful if the state sent a contingent to these shows to promote Oklahoma businesses.”

Henry says that dealing with state bureaucracy is a regular challenge but that it shouldn’t be.

“Because we have such a huge deficit, government should look at itself and ask how it could make things easier,” he says. “What’s good for us is good for them and that helps with their deficit.”

Coffey says that government should have the funds it needs for improvements.

“There was supposed to be all this money from (lottery) and from casinos, but I don’t see it.”

“Our Mennonite church got chased out of Arkansas by the mosquitoes in 1911,” says Bill Chupp. “So it’s celebrating its 100-year anniversary here.”

Chupp, owner and operator of Chupp Implement Company, is a longtime resident of the Chouteau-Pryor area, which is home to one of Oklahoma’s scarce Amish and Mennonite settlements. Residents agree that he is the be-all, end-all of sources for local lore. Chupp’s family settled in Chouteau after leaving Kansas in 1929, and he is steeped in local history and culture.

Although Oklahoma has relatively small Amish and Mennonite populations, members of the religious cultures have been growing. In the past 20 years, the Amish church alone in the Chouteau area has expanded to encompass four separate houses, where services are held for some 20 families in each. Every other Sunday, “bench wagons” load up portable benches for church members and set up in delegated homes. On Sundays when there is not service between Easter and Thanksgiving, members share a single Sunday school location.

According to Chupp, the first members of the Amish church in Mayes County mostly traveled from Ohio and Indiana to settle in Mazie, Okla., before an epidemic forced them to move to nearby Chouteau. Farming was done by horse and steel-wheeled tractors only, although recent years have seen the advent of rubber tires locally.

When asking about town, one can still hear the family names of the original settlers: Yoder, Coblentz, Detweiler. Low German is still spoken by many members of the community, who learn such skills as carpentry, mechanics and furniture craftsmanship from older generations.
While recent years have seen many younger generations of Amish convert to the Mennonite faith – in part due to the Mennonites’ more tolerant perspective on technology – members of the two cultures co-exist harmoniously here. They share religious roots in the Anabaptist movement, but small yet crucial differences separate the churches. In the Chouteau area, many families have members belonging to both sects.

Although members of these communities may live quietly separated from much of modern society, they often can be found lending a helping hand anywhere in the world. Each fall, the Mennonite Central Community meets in Enid for its Oklahoma Mennonite Relief Sale. Homemade ice cream, furniture, noodles, pies and more are sold to raise almost $100,000 in charitable funds. In addition, members of the church have canned some 17,000 pounds of meat for relief in disaster-stricken countries such as Haiti, and this past spring, several members of Chouteau’s Amish church traveled to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to assist with tornado relief efforts.

“It’s a very benevolent group of people,” says Chupp, who himself has traveled to more than 40 countries, and has visited other Amish communities in such unlikely places as Brazil.

But while Amish and Mennonite communities may also be found across the globe, they have definitely become an indelible part of Oklahoma history and culture.

“These people are true citizens of this area,” says Chouteau Mayor Jerry Floyd. “They get involved in most town functions, such as the Black Buggy Days, with their concession stands and their rodeos. The Amish Cheese House and the Dutch Pantry bring in a lot of travelers and tour buses; they all stop by on their way through town. Some of the Amish cater dinners at their homes, which bring in out-of-towners.

“As a whole I feel that they are a great asset to the town and surrounding areas.”